About Bricks
…began as a personal project of mine in Lent 2007. Then, a simple Google Page and an email to some family and close friends, was all it consisted of. The purpose was to see if there was any possibility of using the ‘Net to link small projects, run by people in China with little experience of the Internet, with friends overseas and use the potential of PayPal to allow the process of making a difference be as simple as possible.
In the course of the year it became clear that the potential was greater than what I realised. Once a way of connecting with the poor was created, there was a lot more interest among donors that I expected and the result was that by year’s end over 30,000 euros had been generated for small projects. The potential of the idea had been confirmed but the question was “Where to go with it?”.
A number of elements fell into place in the months since May 2007, when it was already becoming clear that the idea was working. A registered business in Ireland, set up in 2003 to serve a then unknowable purpose, suddenly became useful. A chance encounter with an former member of the Vincentian Teaching Programme unearthed a wealth of web networking talent. The return of a friend to China brought a large donation to cover development costs, and a wave of good will from at home and abroad suggested that this might not be a complete pipe dream. The combination made it possible to take the original personal initiative to a new level. Now it has become a simple non-profit organization with the legal framework necessary to ensure transparency and accountability to donors who might be interested but who “knew not Joseph“.
2008 is the year for taking Bricks to a wider Audience. The same values apply as with the original idea. people centered and using the web to keep costs to a minimum. The Bricks web presence will, in time, incorporate links to blogs, social networking sites, all of which we hope will bring the real hero’s of this story, the women and men in rural China who offer services to the poor, closer to you. At Bricks we believe that it is this human connection, facilitated by the Internet, which is transformative. When that bond across the miles has been created, we can all work together to create a Great Wall of Charity in China, brick by brick.
(To know more about Fr. Loftus, click on his signature)
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